Description

A good sustained climb at the 5.8/5.9 level that makes for an enjoyable few hours.

Start by climbing Adventurous 9904 which is on a large pillar. From near Asterisk pass the pillar looks partially detached.

Pitch 1: 5.8 Romp up on knobs past several bolts to the top of the Pillar and belay.

Pitch 2: 5.9 Start by leaning over the chimney that separates the main wall and the pillar to clip a bolt then step across. Climb up and left to a belay anchor.

Pitch 3: 5.9 Move up and left to a small ledge just above the belay and make an airy move onto the face. Climb up and left on knobs and pockets, airy and exciting! There is another bolted line that goes straight up a few bolts after stepping across, do not follow it. Belay at the base of an arete after about 60 feet.

Pitch 4: 5.9 Make a few exciting moves up the arete before veering right and following an edge dropping away below your feet. The climbing eases a bit before reaching a belay on a low angled slab.

Pitch 5: 5.8 Race up the slab and then finish on jugs on one final steep section of the headwall and belay.

Location

Adventurous 9904 starts about 100 yards West of Asterisk Pass on a partially separated pillar.

Protection

Bolts

Descent

With single 60m rope...

1- Rappel from the perch to the ledge below. Rap to the East. Walk down hill about 50 feet and look for another rappel anchor on the West side.

2- Rap back down to the anchor on the arete at the start of pitch 4

3- Rap down and look for another anchor on a ledge to the right a bit.

My buddy and I fixed a pink 9.1 from one of the top rap anchors all the way to about 10 feet off the deck (5.2) down climb for that ten feet. We were trying to link 4 multi-pitch routes and two of them being on this feature we were saving time on the rap. Anyway, I tweaked my ankle after our third route and we were unable to get back up to chop the rope. I didnt want to leave trash but could bareley get back out of the park so we had to leave it. Please feel free to use it, untie it, chop it or whatever, I wont be back for a while to retrieve it as I am in Portland with a sprained ankle, so please help out as I littered :(

Great route to practice rope maintenance and multi-pitches at Smith, and to get away from the crowds of the main wall. There's quite a few routes in the same area now, so watch your bolt line (the first time I climbed it I ended up at a rap station for another route and had to down climb around the corner--atop pitch 3 I think?).

We took 2 60m ropes with us and while it made the rappels a bit easier you can definitely get by with just one. Don't rap back down the route-- we heard that some people have been doing this for some reason. Rap off the opposite side that you came up, then find the chains 10m or so to the climber's left of the route and rap down there. There are anchors everywhere on this wall so it's pretty easy to get down.

I was suckered in to going straight up the line of bolts towards the end of the 3rd pitch, and I wouldn't recommend it. I didn't have any problem downclimbing 20ft. or so to get back on route, but remember that it keeps traversing left.

The belay at the 5th pitch is really cool, and makes for a great picture if the leader has a camera.

Overall this was a lot of fun. Do it in the morning if you want it in the shade. It's a great route to teach someone the ins and outs of multi-pitch climbing.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this route, I did it with two new climbers and it turned out to be an enjoyable few hours in the afternoon sun. TONS of bolts (the way sport climbing ought to be). I think I took about 16 draws and slings and used them all (including for anchors). A few long slings is nice.

Great climb. I would recommend linking pitches 2-3 and linking 4-5. The pitches are short otherwise and you definitely get more continuous climbing out of each pitch; there is little to no rope drag when linking. By linking you may also help speed up the line of people behind you that wants to climb (on busy weekends).

P2-3 is 55-60 meters (or shorter) and takes 19 draws if you clip every bolt, though many bolts are so close that you can easily reach back clean many bolts from the next one.

P4-5 is even shorter (40-50 meters?) and takes much less bolts, particularly since you can skip or back clean many of the bolts (yes, they are really close to each other).

A 60m rope will NOT get you from rappel anchor 2 to rappel anchor 3. You HAVE to use the anchor on the route (top of pitch 3). Otherwise you run the risk of downclimbing some gnar or hanging from a bolt like we did or swinging to some other anchors. All of this after I had already climbed the route twice. Our rope was a year-and-some old and had recently been washed, which is perhaps why it wasn't long enough...?

To add to the above comment.. (Nate Ball) On rap #2, make sure you veer climbers right to the chains(belay station). Do not stop at the set of double bolts. If you try to rap from the bolts that do not have chains, you'll end up short of the next set of chains and you'll be stuck hanging.

Interesting moderate sport route. The name soon starts to make sense once you are on P3. Towards the end of P4, you need to climb over a bulge. You can't see the bolts from below and would wonder where the route goes. You just need to have some faith.

This route is well protected and super exposed. Definitely will get your heart racing even if you are a confident 5.10 leader. A must do at Smith. Started early and made made it to top of P3 by the time anyone else had showed up at the base. Might be able to link P4 and P5 with a 70M. We didn't have enough QD's to try it but it looks like it might go.

The climb isn't sustained at 5.8/5.9. There is typically a crux move on each pitch and then it eases back quite a bit afterwards.

Pitch 2 DOES NOT have a separate line of bolts on it. Pitch 2 goes up and left and is very clear.

Pitch 3 DOES HAVE 2 lines of bolts leading you away from the mainline. Keep driving left and up whenever possible! When you reach the belay, build your anchor off the bolts, not rings to keep them open for people on rappel.

A few people at the cliff have told me there is a walk off for this route. I didn't get the beta but it would be good to have posted here.

The rappels can be done with a single 60 meter rope but there is one snafu. The 3rd rappel from the anchor at the top of pitch 3 can be extremely bogged down if there are a lot of people on route. I was stuck hanging on rappel waiting for people to climb through... If you have a 70 meter rope and quick links to add to the bolt anchor left and up from here you MIGHT be able to make it to the next set and skip that station.

The walk off is actually pretty cool and easy. Rap to the east from the top and head south up 2nd/3rd class. Follow the cairns and trail, going from the east to the west side of the ridge, always heading generally south. After one last exposed 3rd class move, the ridge mellows out and turns into a climbers trail which drops down a drainage to the west and curves back around to the base. Be careful not to drop down too soon as the first drainage that you encounter after the ridge turns to dirt cliffs out. Stay on the use trail until you can see the bottom.

While most people and the guide book suggest that people rappel for the descent there is an easy walk off with only a couple 3rd class moves and little exposure. It is worth noting that the rappel route is prone to stuck ropes and will certainly take you longer than walking no matter how good you are with rope management.

Depending on your comfort level you can either traverse right from the top-out around the back side of a gendarme on crumbly rock to the top of the gully, OR rap into the gully and hike up. Go around the right side of lost arrow spire (see Watts guide/the spire hidden behind the Platform from the main area, a couple third class moves with minimal exposure) and cross the top of the huge gully on what is actually just 2nd class to join the climbers trail.

Note that this descent works for anything topping out on the Platform or Sky Ridge, including Sky Chimney, White Satin/Lycra, etc. although for those routes you are looking at a longer walk around.

Most of pitch 3 seems hollow, a few head-scratcher bolt placements, and uninspiring climbing movement left me wondering why I climbed this route. Views of the Smith formations lit up by the setting sun answered my question. In summary: less than impressive climbing to very impressive views.

We did the route a couple of days ago. Some of the bolts are away from the easiest climbing, so on a few clips we had to reach down and across. I highly recommend walking off rather than rapping. Previous posters have detailed this. One bonus of going that way is you can bag Sunset Slab on the way back around to the base.